Gold-Tinted Days
by needchocolatenow
Summary: Luffy had Zoro—always.


"Don't fall over," he warned. "I'm not going to save you."

Luffy grinned, wide and free and unconcerned as he leaned even farther out over the rails of the Thousand Sunny, a simple fishing rod in hand. Below, the waves crashed in erratic rhythms against the side of the ship. There was no expectation to actually catch anything, just something to do while at sea, but extra fish meant more food for the crew. No one complained about that, especially not Luffy.

"Are you worried?"

Zoro shut his good eye and turned away. "No," he said, feigning a wide yawn. "I'm going to sleep."

Luffy giggled in the background and for a moment, Zoro was so at peace he thought he was dreaming.

Then the sound of the fishing line reeling out rapidly jerked him upright and just in time to watch as Luffy, with that stupid vacant expression of incomprehension he got sometimes, was yanked overboard by an overly enthusiastic catch.

* * *

"For the last time, no," Zoro said as he plucked Luffy's head from his lap and deposited it on the floor.

Luffy made a face at him and whined pitifully from where he laid next to Zoro. He was sprawled spread eagle and had been intent on using Zoro's lap as a pillow for an afternoon nap. Zoro did not like the idea at all and instead, he had tried to glare Luffy into submission, but that had never worked where the rubber man was concerned, so it turned into a strange game of cat and mouse on the ship as Zoro tried to find a suitable hiding spot for his own afternoon nap. They had ended up on the deck where the girls were sunbathing and Sanji ingratiating himself to their every whim.

"But I want to sleep with you!"

He inhaled sharply. If that statement had come from anyone but Luffy, Zoro would have jumped ship and swam to the nearest island, the unpredictability and dangers of the New World be damned.

Zoro covered his eyes with a palm, ignoring the giggles coming from the girls on the lawn chairs just several meters away. He gnashed his teeth together and when he said nothing, Luffy put his head back onto Zoro's lap.

"You can sleep next to me," Zoro said, hoping for a compromise. "Not on top of me."

Luffy was still making his unhappy face. "But I want a Zoro pillow."

Zoro let out a steady breath as he glared down at Luffy, his childish captain that was being very, very immature at the moment. "Why don't you go find Chopper instead? I think he makes a better pillow than I do. No, wait, it's a fact."

Luffy squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head back and forth almost violently. Rubbery arms snaked around Zoro's torso and held him in place and really, Zoro should have expected this from the beginning. Luffy was extremely insistent and persistent; if he wasn't, half of the crew wouldn't even be sailing with them today. It was an endearing trait, but sometimes it was just plain irritating. Zoro knew that; he's been with Luffy from the start, when they were just drifting around on a dinghy in East Blue.

"Luffy! Let me go," Zoro snapped, trying to wriggle out of Luffy's grasp.

"Nope!" Luffy replied, this time with a bright grin. "You have to sleep with me!"

"Oh, for—why me?"

"Because! Chopper said you were the best pillow!" Luffy said, withdrawing his rubbery arms. "So you have to sleep with me. Captain's orders."

"I'll mutiny," Zoro warned half-heartedly; he was trying his best to remember when it was that Chopper had joined him in a nap. He could only remember one time recently in which he and the reindeer had fallen asleep together and when he woke up, he had found himself using Chopper as a pillow and not the other way around. "What did Chopper say?"

Luffy blinked up at him. "He said you were the best pillow! He felt very warm and safe with you."

It was nice to have nakama, especially when they trusted him so implicitly. When Zoro was truly asleep, he was dead to the world and there was no reason for anyone to feel safe in his presence.

He wasn't sure what to say in return. He was a little annoyed, a little flabbergasted, but mostly he was feeling like his heart might beat its way out of his chest.

"Fine," he said and if the word came out of his mouth a little strangled, a little strained, Luffy didn't comment. "But if my legs fall asleep, I'm dropping you face first onto the deck."

Luffy's thousand watt smile beamed up at him and Zoro sighed. "Thanks. Just lately, I've been feeling a little tired," Luffy said. He punctuated his statement with a yawn and a stretch. He flopped back down, boneless, against Zoro.

"Go to sleep already. I'll wake you up if anything exciting happens," said Zoro, but Luffy's eyes were already closed and soft snores were punctuating the air. Luffy's ridiculous ability to fall asleep anywhere was a goddamn miracle.

The giggles from the girls had subsided, but Zoro knew better than to think they weren't staring. They were more sensible than the shitty cook who looked like he was about to comment.

"If you say anything," Zoro hissed in their direction, "I will kill you."

There was wisely no peep of conversation from them the whole afternoon and Zoro contented himself to a light doze, determined to not move a muscle, even when his legs fell asleep.

* * *

It was a tiny prehistoric island that they've landed on; the climate was warm and sticky and it more than a little reminded Zoro of Little Garden. The dinosaurs that roamed the forested hills were massive and all Luffy wanted to do was ride one. And then possibly eat it or take it back with him as a pet.

One never knew with Luffy.

It was Zoro's turn to be on Captain-watch and while everyone agreed that Luffy could take care of himself, it was just in everyone's best interest that he wasn't left alone. He'd probably return to the ship as king of the dinosaurs and demand to cram his newfound allies/friends/pets onto the Thousand Sunny. Nami would put her foot down, and of course everyone else, but the resulting tantrum was probably best avoided for everyone involved.

And it was Zoro who drew the proverbial lucky straw today.

"Zoro! Zoro, let's go up and look!" Luffy was more than ecstatic about the strange three-headed reptile in the distance. It stood out a fair bit atop the trees, but as they were on the forest floor, it was difficult to see.

"Sure, but don't—" He never got to finish the rest of his sentence as Luffy grabbed a hold of him and rocketed them both up the nearest tree.

That always, always knocked the wind out of him, especially when it was unexpected. It was also, unfortunately, Luffy's favorite method of getting around.

"When will you learn to warn people?!" Zoro snapped as he found precarious footing on the branch they landed on. He had a hand fisted on Luffy's shirt and doing his best to keep his balance.

Luffy was laughing; it was boisterous and warm and straight from his heart and Zoro could tell from the way Luffy's face was lit up in glee. It dispelled whatever lingering irritation he had and it was hard not to smile back.

But Luffy wasn't looking at him; he was pointing and gesturing at the dinosaur he spotted and clamoring about how he wanted a closer look because it had three heads and was super cool and maybe they could take it back as a pet.

"Nami will say no," Zoro said. "Besides, where will he stay? He's the same size as Sunny."

"You're wrong!"

Zoro raised an eyebrow, but waited for Luffy to elaborate.

"Look, there!"

Sitting on top of the middle head was a small dinosaur; at first glance it looked more like a leaf, but as Zoro stared at it some more, it began to gain shape. It was clearly a baby, but it looked much like its parent: three sets of heads, long necks, and a thick trunk of a body.

"She's a mother." Luffy was looking very proud of himself for spotting that. "Well, I guess since she's got a baby to take care of, she can't come with us. I still want an awesome pet. If we found a smaller one, do you think Nami would let me have one?"

"Not at all."

Luffy pouted. "Stingy."

"Don't let Nami hear you say that. Come on, let's get down. There's nothing to see from here."

The manic glint in Luffy's eyes was enough of a warning for Zoro this time as he's grabbed unceremoniously around the torso by a rubbery arm and flung off the top of the tree and into the dense canopy below. He was certain his brain was rattling inside his skull when he landed, but Luffy had a firm grip on him and set him up against the base of the tree they were in.

They weren't as high off the ground as before, but they were still in a tree, avoiding contact with much of the forest inhabitants. Most of them didn't even seem to have noticed the two tiny people observing them, or if they have noticed, they didn't care. Luffy pulled on him until he was sitting down and Zoro could definitely appreciate the busy scene Luffy had dropped them into.

They were facing a decently sized waterhole and it was teeming with life and activity. Big carnivorous looking dinosaurs were paddling lazily about in the water with the smaller ones using their backs as slides. The herbivores were playing too, splashing in the water and making gurgling fountains from blowholes at the top of their heads somehow. The stifling heat of the island made it tempting for Zoro to suggest that they join the creatures in their swim, but Luffy didn't seem to be too interested in swimming. He was cheering on a pair of tiny dinosaurs on the muddied banks ramming their heads against each other in a show of adolescent dominance.

Zoro exhaled, unable to help the smile that tugged on his lips.

This was fine, Zoro thought as he let his good eye slip close. This was—

His next thought was interrupted by a finger poking him in the cheek. He swatted at it and frowned, realizing that there was something wrong with his gravitational orientation. He opened his eye and realized he was looking up at Luffy and that the harsh daylight that had streaked through the canopy of leaves was now weak and the temperature was no longer as intense. The sweat on his skin was starting to chill and Zoro was warm, curled against Luffy as he was.

"You fell asleep," Luffy said simply and Zoro wondered how Luffy could have sat still for so long with Zoro's head pillowed in his lap.

Thanks, he wanted to say, but the word was lodged in his throat like a soundless whisper. In the moment, everything felt surreal, yet he was acutely aware of every movement he made.

He gripped Luffy by the back of his neck and pulled him down. Maybe it was the dizzying heat leftover from the day or he was still disoriented from his nap, but Zoro was certain he knew what he was doing.

He pressed their mouths together, brief; he did it again and again until Luffy responded in kind and there was a different sort of heat in the air, one that was terrifying and electric and it made Zoro wonder how the hell was he ever going to be able to stop.

* * *

It was like a dam had been broken and the floodgates opened; a torrent of emotions both familiar and foreign and the only analogy Zoro had was that it was similar to fighting a strong opponent, the energy in the pit of his stomach and not knowing if he was going to win or lose. It was something like that.

There was a change between them, something tense and something raw. Despite the fact that the Thousand Sunny was much larger than the Going Merry, they never had—they never needed—time alone. Their day-to-day actions and routines never changed and Zoro doubted that any of the crew even picked up on the odd atmosphere between him and Luffy.

Zoro spent his days training and napping. Luffy spent his days merrymaking and laughing.

There was once, just once in the span of all their time at sea, where Zoro looked out the window from the crow's nest and Luffy wasn't staring at the endless horizon before him. Luffy was looking right back, a bright, familiar grin on his face and all Zoro could do was ignore the clenching of his gut and the flushing of his cheeks to smile back.

* * *

He would never admit it out loud—especially not to the stupid cook's face—but meals by Sanji were delicious. Luffy had no compunctions about voicing his appreciation, though with the way he inhaled food, Zoro didn't think Luffy tasted much of the food that went into his mouth.

Dinner was the last of the meat from the freezer, noodles, and a giant pot of soup whose stock was made from simmering the leftover bones. It was warming, especially since they were anchored near a winter island. Snow fell in silent clumps outside, white and cold, and earlier, it had fogged up the windows in the crow's nest so completely that it forced Zoro to abandon his weight lifting to clean the glass. Undoubtedly a wasted effort as the frost would cover it again, ruining visibility and needing another wiping down. Zoro didn't pity Franky at all for having the late night watch.

"For tomorrow," Nami said, catching everyone's attention. "We need to be on the lookout for food. This is a winter island so I don't know what's going to be on there, but that is our number one priority."

"We're out of food?!" Luffy's dismay was echoed in Chopper, Brook, and Usopp's expressions.

"We're not," Sanji said. "Just running low. If I ration it, we should be able to get by for another couple of days." He glared at Luffy, who had grown rotund after dinner; Usopp had left his plate unguarded when preening about something or other and Luffy had swooped in with rubbery arms and a bottomless pit for a stomach.

Nami sighed while everyone else snickered. Zoro stayed adamantly silent and wondered why they were stopped here instead of looking for an island with civilization on it. Hunting wild animals wasn't a difficult task or anything, but when Sanji started to run out of food, then it was a sign that they've been on the sea for a little too long. The man could be as stingy as Nami sometimes when it came to food.

"Oi, oi. What are we going to do if there's nothing there?" Usopp asked.

"Guess we'll have to turn to cannibalism," Zoro quipped, but no one laughed. They stared at him like he'd grown another head. Of course they didn't appreciate his special kind of humor.

"You're a creepy bastard," he heard Sanji mutter.

"Say that to my face, you perverted cook!"

"Anyways!" Nami interrupted before Zoro could slice Sanji into ribbons. She didn't have a twitch under her eye; she was only mildly annoyed rather than angry. Her long hair was pulled up into a ponytail for dinner, though there was still spilled ink staining her fingers, a telltale sign she had been in her workroom all day. "We're splitting off into teams: ship watching, hunting, and exploring."

Luffy's hand shot up immediately. "Exploring! I wanna explore! Nami, I don't want to stay behind!" He looked ecstatic and Zoro could see the bright little stars of hope for a great adventure twinkling in his eyes. Everyone in the crew could see the hope in those eyes and he knew that Nami had already accounted for Luffy being in the exploring team. She knew Luffy well enough. Zoro exhaled silently, slowly. He knew his captain well too.

"Me and Luffy will go," he said and everyone just stared at him again, like he was some strange alien creature that had crawled onto the ship. Why were they doing that? Was it something he said? Did he have food on his face? Luffy laughed and stretched an arm across the dining room table to loop it around Zoro's shoulder.

"It's decided!" Luffy crowed, wide grin stretched across his face. "We're the exploring team!"

"Oh my god," Usopp moaned, his head in his hands. "Do you not remember the last time?! We spent two days in that forest looking for you! That's not happening again!"

* * *

If there was one thing that Zoro was sure about, it was in Luffy's fighting abilities. He had wondered more than a few times as to who was stronger, but it never mattered, not really. Luffy was competent when he should be and he could hold his own against the strongest of foes and Zoro never worried about him, not unless sea water was involved.

Recently, from a time that Zoro couldn't pinpoint, the admiration he had for Luffy's fighting prowess had changed and warped into something else, something more than admiration and in the aftermath of a hard won battle, all Zoro wanted to do was to touch the bruises and wounds on his captain's body and taste the blood on his tongue. He was half mast, though it was concealed below the thick layers of clothes he wore for properly exploring the winter island, and he wondered if Luffy knew.

Luffy knew.

Luffy always knew, somehow, because he was nearly all instinct like an animal and Zoro thought of himself in almost the same way. They were both beasts of the same kind.

They kissed, violently, biting and tearing at each other's clothes and skin, and rutted together like the animals they were, heated blood and sweat coloring the ice white snow. In the aftermath, they gained additional bruises and bloodied marks, but there was an elation in the confines of Zoro's chest and the smiles that Luffy sent his way made him eager for more.

* * *

Zoro was in the middle of his meditation when Luffy poked him—repeatedly—in the cheek. They've finally left behind the snowy hell that Usopp had aptly dubbed Yeti Island, the wintery weather fading away into the warmer season of spring the further they traveled. They hadn't picked up much in food from Yeti Island, but Nami had declared that another island couldn't be too far away, a week at most. Their diminishing supplies were dwindling fast and the last he saw of Luffy, Luffy had been sitting with Brook and Chopper in a competition to see who could catch the biggest fish for dinner.

As far as Zoro knew, no one was winning.

"What?" he growled, opening his good eye to see what was happening.

Luffy was sitting in the space next to him, a finger in the air prepared to dig itself into his face again. "Oh, you're awake?" Luffy sounded almost put out. He probably wanted to doodle on someone's face; he tended to do that when he was bored and to whomever let their guard down. It happened once to Zoro before he wizened up, twice to Sanji, and his current favorite victim was Brook.

"I wasn't sleeping," Zoro grunted as Luffy resumed poking him. "Will you stop that?!"

Luffy laughed, gleefully, and his laughter was echoed by Chopper and Brook, who were watching from where they sat on the rails of the deck. He stopped, at least, and sat up straighter. He held out a spare fishing rod in front of him and Zoro took it without question.

"It's a contest," Luffy said. "You're on my team."

Chopper and Brook protested.

"We're on teams?! No, I want Zoro on my team!"

"Yohoho! Zoro should be teamed up with me! We're both swordsmen, after all!"

Zoro sighed and stood up from his meditation spot on the deck, helping Luffy up to his feet as well. He grinned and if he held onto Luffy's hand for a second longer than usual, no one noticed, no one said anything. "Me and the captain will wipe the floor with you two," he declared, issuing the challenge in which Chopper and Brook instantly roared to life for.

"These old bones won't lose to anyone, especially not at fishing! Yohoho!" Brook crowed.

"Yeah, you tell them!" Chopper yelled in assent, reeling back his line and recasting it farther into the sea. It's not like that would help, but Zoro didn't say.

By the time Sanji came to check up on them in the afternoon, none of them have caught anything, but their baits were always gone when they reeled back the line. Something was nibbling, but refusing to get caught. The arrogant expression The stupid cook gave Zoro probably would have incited murder if not for Chopper, screaming that his line had caught something.

Chopper and Brook won, having hooked in a sizable shark, but only after Zoro and Sanji fished them and Luffy out of the sea.

* * *

Finally, they found a hospitable tropical island with a tiny, remote village located near the coast. An old, rotted wooden arch stood over the pier with nearly illegible block letters carved into it saying: WELCOME. Everyone stepped off the ship to do some much needed resupply and shopping, though Zoro doubted that such an out of the way village would have what he needed for his katanas' maintenance. He could probably get some alcohol though; his stash on the Sunny was entirely depleted.

There was a small strip leading from the pier to the center of the village square that was lined with food vendors and shops and he watched as the first thing Luffy spent all his allotted spending money on was the local delicacy. It looked good, whatever those drumsticks were, and they smelled appetizing too. Zoro was tempted to get one too.

"It's delicious!" Luffy declared.

"It's easy to satisfy you," Zoro replied.

Luffy looked at his sizable collection of drumsticks and back to Zoro and said, with the most pained expression on his face: "I'll let you have one bite."

Zoro rolled his eyes. "Don't push yourself," he said, but took a bite of the drumstick that was still in Luffy's hand. It was delicious, in more ways than one, and he savored it, chewing slowly, casting sidelong glances at Luffy the whole time.

Though he didn't look too perturbed, the tips of Luffy's ears were stained pink. Hell knows what he was thinking, but Zoro smirked, and counted that as a win.

* * *

Zoro wasn't sure how it happened, but he woke up to hushed snickering and laughter. It sounded like the shitty cook, which probably explained why he woke up at all because damn, the cook irritated the hell out of him even when he was awake. The next voice to join Sanji's was Usopp and then Brook and after that, Zoro was wondering what's got grown men giggling like children.

He was in his bunk, still in the men's quarters, but there was an echo of a heartbeat and a quieter breathing that was not his in his ear. Luffy was sprawled on top of him, dead to the world, even with the background noise. He must have come in sometime after he got back from the first night watch—unless he was fighting or partying, Luffy had an inability to stay up too late and would automatically pass out once it reached past midnight—and slipped into Zoro's bunk.

"Crap! He stopped snoring!" he heard Usopp whisper frantically. "He's awake!"

It had to be early in the morning, before breakfast, because Zoro couldn't smell anything that resembled food and Sanji was still dawdling around in the men's quarters.

Zoro opened his good eye to send the rowdy idiots a glare, though that didn't seem to deter Sanji from snickering at all.

"Demoted to bed mattress," Zoro overheard Sanji saying and he would have gotten up and shown exactly who was better, when Luffy stirred.

It wasn't that Luffy made a noise or even moved, but Zoro felt the subtle shift in muscle and the expanding of Luffy's lungs against his chest.

"Luffy."

At the sound of his name, Luffy made a tiny, incomprehensible noise, though he didn't seem inclined to fully wake up or get up.

"Food?" Luffy asked.

"The shitty cook's slacking off," Zoro replied.

Luffy exhaled, soft and quiet, and was asleep again within seconds and Zoro figured that if his captain was comfortable, then he was comfortable. He shut his eye and brought a hand to cradle the back of Luffy's neck, earning himself an unconscious nuzzle from the sleeping form on top of him. He was warm, heavy-limbed like he just woke up from the best of sleep, and the feeling of Luffy resting on him was making his chest constrict with undeniable feeling, dragging the corners of his lips upwards.

Zoro was happy. He was happy to be with his more often-than-not insane, heart attack-inducing captain and the crew that had slowly become a family to him. He was happy for the trust Luffy put in him. There was a great number of things he was happy about, but most of all, he was just happy to have Luffy pressed against him, even in slumber. He was happy about it and everyone else could either deal with it or get out.

_(That means you, you shitty cook.)_

_(Fuck you, marimo. Take care of the captain or I'll kick your ass.)_

* * *

Thanks for reading! Leave a review if you liked it, yeah?


End file.
